THE holding company of the SM Group is planning to increase next year’s spending by more than half as it forges ahead with a five-year plan to double profits to over P30 billion.

During its quarterly briefing on Monday, SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) chief financial officer Jose Sio disclosed that the company will increase capital spending in 2010 by 62 percent to P40.6 billion, compared with the P25-billion budget set for this year.

He added that SMIC may end up spending P211 billion by 2014, when he expects to double this year’s profit and revenue targets of  about P15.5 billion and P150 billion, respectively.

“We are going to focus on our five core sectors or anything that has synergies with our core businesses,” said Sio, while noting that SMIC does not discount the possibility of making large-scale acquisitions or investments.

At present, SMIC has five core units—malls, retail, banking, property and the newly added hotels and entertainment.

For 2010, SMIC has allotted the lion’s share of the budget amounting to P17.4 billion for its property business, which plans to build 14 residential condominiums as well as expand the Pico de Loro Cove resort in Batangas, among others.

Meanwhile, P12.1 billion will be spent on its mall unit which plans to launch five more SM shopping centers in Luzon—namely in Tarlac, Novaliches, Masinag in Rizal, as well as in Calamba and San Pablo in Laguna.  For its overseas expansion, SM Prime is building its fourth mall in China in Suzhou. SMIC will allot P6.2 billion to grow its retail business and P4.9 billion for its hotel and entertainment projects.

The company continues to sustain its growth for the first nine months of the year, posting a 14-percent increase in consolidated net income to P10.8 billion. SMIC said this was driven by the growth in the retail and property sectors.

The SM group’s consolidated revenues also increased by 14 percent to P110.0 billion compared with P97.3 billion during the same period last year.

The retail segment reported a net income of P3.1 billion, up 37 percent from the first nine months of 2008. Sales likewise grew 7 percent to P84.6 billion. The company credited the growth to cost and operational efficiency as well as the continued expansion through new store openings.

The group reported that 16 stores were opened this year, bringing the total number to 111. These consist of 35 department stores, 26 supermarkets, 20 SaveMore branches, 18 Hypermarkets and 12 Makro outlets. For the rest of 2009, SMIC plans to open 8 more stores, five of which are SaveMore branches.